From the Bible, King James Version:
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The Phrase Finder
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Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
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154 published notes correcting and extending our entries.
The expression "no love lost" can be traced back at least to 1585, in which it is used in Gary's second sense; the publication is "An Exposition Upon the Book of the Canticles" by…
To bite the bullet may have been used literally in antiquity. However, I think its usage, at least historically in America, is that biting the bullet is choosing to put a firearm…
Hi Gary, I enjoyed your page on "one-hit wonder" and wanted to pass along two earlier citations I found while searching the newspaper archive at worldradiohistory.com, both of…
Spotted something we have got wrong, or know an earlier use? Every entry has a form at the foot of the page.
From the Phrase Finder Digest
- The Political Phrases That Say Nothing About Politics
Party conference season fills the air with slogans like 'politically correct' and 'open season'. None of these phrases started out meaning what conference-goers now use them to mean.
23 September 2026
- Harvest Time Brings Out Three Old Farming Phrases
As the equinox brings harvest festivals and the season's brightest full moon, three phrases rooted in fields and grain still turn up in offices and arguments. Their origins are stranger, and older, than most people assume.
16 September 2026
Based on Google Books usage over the last ~25 years. Refreshes each build.
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- MeaningA backhanded complimentA remark that appears to praise someone but contains a hidden insult or criticism.
- MeaningA fig leafSomething used to disguise or cover up a shameful, embarrassing or awkward fact rather than genuinely deal with it.
- MeaningGrey matterA person's intelligence, brainpower or capacity for thought.
- MeaningA sweet toothA strong liking for sweet foods such as sugar, cakes and sweets.
- MeaningA zero-sum gameA situation in which one side's gain is matched exactly by another side's loss, so the total gained and lost across everyone involved comes to nothing.
- MeaningAn open bookSomeone or something whose thoughts, feelings or details are so easy to read or discover that nothing is hidden.
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Phrases.org.uk has been documenting the meaning and origin of phrases, sayings and idioms since 1997. Every entry is researched and written by Gary Martin, with citations to the earliest printed use we can find.
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